By Akani Nkuna
Umalusi, which is responsible for overseeing education quality in South Africa, warns that without sufficient resources, the credibility of the country’s certification framework could face serious challenges.
It said this week that as educational demands continued to evolve, increased funding was critical to maintain the integrity of the country’s qualifications.
“Adequate funding is essential to expand quality assurance to strengthen the credibility of the qualifications that we are offering on our sub-framework. Inadequate budget allocation makes it difficult for Umalusi to attract and retain competent and qualified employees,” Umalusi CFO Hendrik van der Walt told the Basic Education Portfolio Committee.
Umalusi and the South African Council for Educators presented their budget review to the parliamentary committee, outlining financial plans and priorities for the coming year.
The briefing highlighted key challenges, resource allocation and efforts to maintain education quality and professional standards. Members engaged with the presenters, seeking clarity on budget implementation and oversight measures.
Van Der Walt highlighted that Umalusi faced financial constraints due to operating from a single national office, limiting its capacity to oversee education quality effectively. He further noted that budget shortfalls restricted large-scale quality assurance, resulting in reduced monitoring.
Only 317 of 6933 exam centres and 30 of 183 marking centres were sampled for verification.
The limited sizes, according to Van Der Walt, were not truly representative of the overall totals, underscoring the significant impact budget constraints had on the regulatory body’s ability to fulfil its mandate effectively.
“Umalusi is also inundated with a lot of applications from private schools and colleges, which require more personnel to be able to address all of these matters,” he added.
Umalusi operated with an approved budget of R208 million for the 2024/25 financial year. Looking ahead, the council anticipates a 5% increase in funding for the 2025/26 period.
According to the proposed budget allocations, 46% of the upcoming financial year’s budget would be dedicated to administrative functions. A total of 14% was set aside for qualifications and research, and 40% would go towards quality assurance and monitoring activities.
“It is clear that we are greatly dependent on the grant that we receive from the Department of Basic Education as it makes about 80% our annual income that funds the operation of Umalusi in total,” Van Der Walt said.
Accreditation fees are projected to be the second-largest source of internal revenue for Umalusi, with expected earnings to be around R8 million for this financial year.
Interest income is forecast to remain relatively stable compared to the previous year.
Umalusi said it would issue the financial statements from 2024/2025 financial at the end May and make them accessible to the public.
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